Electric-railway contact



(No Model.)

F. O. BLAGKWELL.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY GONTAGT.

Patented Apr. 15,1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

FRANCIS O. BLACKYVELL, OF NEWV YORK, N; Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE THOMSON- HOUSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY CONTACT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,489, dated April 15, 1890.

Application filed August 31, 1889.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS O. BLAOKWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric- Railway Contacts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to contact devices for an overhead electric railway.

In the contact devices heretofore employed it has been customary to make substantially the whole of the device between the car and the wire movable laterally in order to accommodate it to the sinuosities of the line. It has been also customary in these devices to make the contact device have a lateral movement about a center instead of in a straight line, so that there was a constant tendency to throw the contact-wheel oh? the wire on account of the deviations in the parallelism between the rod of the device and the wire. A

My invention consists in providing an upright structure on the roof of the car and pivoting a contact device thereon which is comparatively light and easy to move laterally, and arranging it at the same time so that its lateral movement is not a movement about a center, but a movement directly across the car. The contact-rod is held up against the wire by means of a spring which does not offer any substantial interference with the lateral movement of the contact device.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my contact device. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof, and Fig. 3 is a modified detail.

In the drawings, A represents a vehiclefor example, a street-car.

B is the line-wire.

An intermediate contact device is formed by providing a rigid upright structure or standard on the roof of the car, consisting of two posts C and a cross-piece D. This crosspiece D is preferably round and is embraced by a traveler E, having an upward extension forming the trolley-rod, the trolley-wheel being carried on its outer extremity and riding along on the under side of wire 13. The trav- Serial No. 322,633. (No model.)

eler E has an offset G at an angle to F, and from its extremity a cord or wire H for manually moving the contact device into and out of its operative position extends to one end of the vehicle, where it is provided with a strong spring K and ahandle L. The handle L has two trunnions adapted to fit in hooks or equivalent catches M for holding spring K under tension, which are attached at the end of the hood over the car-platform.

It will be readily seen that in operation the contact-trolley on the end of rod F will be constantly pressed up against wire B by the tension of spring K. The traveler E, carrying rod F, will be free to slide on guide D, and the point of attachment of spring K is so remote that it will not offer any substantial 0bstacle to the free transverse movement of E. The rod F may be easily manipulated by means of handle L, and, if desired, there may be two extensions G on traveler E, and two wires H may extend directly down around the transversely-slidin g pulley O, whence the wire H extends to the end of the car and is provided with a spring K, as in the previous arrangement. This modification is illustrated in Fig. 3.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a'railwaywehicle and a line-wire, of a standard fixed on the top of the vehicle and a light transversely-sliding contact-piece upon said standard pressed constantly against the under side of the supply-wire.

2. The combination, with an electric-railway vehicle and a line-conductor, of an intermediate contact device consisting of a stand ard and a contact-arm thereon pressed against the supply-wire and movable on said standard in substantially a straight line.

3. The combination, with an electric-raib way vehicle, of an intermediate contact device consisting of a standard, a transversely-moving trolley-rod thereon, and a spring pressing the said rod against the line-conductor without obstructing the transverse movement.

4. The combination, with an electricallypropelled vehicle and a stationaryconductor,

of anintermediate contact device consisting of an upright standard, a trolley-rod thereon having freedom of movement in a straight line, and a spring pressing the said trolley against the line-wire and partaking of the transverse movement.

5. The combination, with an electricallypropelled vehicle, of a suspended line-con-.

doctor and an intermediate contact device consisting of an upright standard, a pivoted trolley-rod free to travel transversely therealong, and a controlling-connection provided with a spring extending to the end of the vehicle.

6. The combination, in an electrically-pro pelled vehicle and a suspended line-con du'ctor, of an intermediate contact device consisting of a standard having at its upper end a transverse guide and a pivoted trolley-rod sliding transversely on said guide and provided with a spring pressing it against the main supply- Wire.

7. The combination, in an electrically-propelled vehicle, of a transverse guide allowing freedom of lateral movement to the contact device and a contact-arm pivoted upon said guide and swinging into and out of an operative position around it as a center.

8. The combination, with a pivoted trolleyrod F, of an operating-connection I-I, provided with a spring for manually controlling the position of the contact device and extending to the end of the vehicle, and having there a hook or similar detachable connection.

9. The combination, in an electrically-plo day of Au- FRANCIS O. BLACKWELL, WVitnesses:

GEORGE BAUMANN,

HUBERT HOWSON. 

